The province of Minho occupies land between the Douro river in the south and the Minho river in the north. Fortified hilltop stone forts (castros) remain as evidence of the Neolithic history of the region. When Celtic peoples migrated into the area in the first millennium BC, these sites developed into citânias (settlements) such as Briteiros.

In the 2nd century BC, advancing Roman legions conquered the land, introduced vine-growing techniques and constructed a network of roads. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th century AD, Braga became an important religious centre, a position it holds to this day. The Suevi swept aside the Romans in the 5th century, followed by the Visigoths, who were ousted in turn by the Moorish invasion of 711. The Minho was won back from the Moors in the 9th century. The region rose to prominence in the 1100s under Afonso Henriques, who proclaimed himself the first king of Portugal and chose Guimarães as his capital.

Since then, the Minho has been the territory of farmers and the region’s fertile farms and estates have been handed down within families for centuries, each heir traditionally receiving a share of the land.